Get an up-close look at daily life among the Longhouse People with this short documentary from 1951. It depicts the rites and rituals of this Indigenous community, including a rain dance, a healing ceremony, and the celebration of a newly chosen chief.
Ages 14 to 17
Ethics and Religious Culture - Religious Diversity/Heritage
History - Early Colonization/Settlement
Indigenous Studies - Identity/Society
This is a magnificent portrait suitable for screening in history classes as a testimonial to an ancestral, but living, memory. Students can do a research project on the False Face Society, their masks and their symbolism as the starting point for an exploration of the mythology of the People of the Longhouse, i.e., Iroquoian society. Comparing the lifestyles of the Iroquois and Algonquians provides a way to learn about the diversity of communities, historically and more recently, in Canada.